Making Every Penny Count: Kinase Signaling Transduction, Copper Homeostasis, & Nutrient Sensing

I am the Harrison McCrea Dickson, MD, and Clifford C. Baker, MD Presidential Associate Professor of Cancer Biology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. I earned a BS in Chemistry from Radford University and a PhD in Pharmacology from UNC-Chapel Hill before completing postdoctoral training at Duke University with Dr. Christopher Counter. At Penn, I lead a research program pioneering metalloallostery, where redox-active metals regulate kinase activity. We investigate the intersection of kinase signaling and copper (Cu) homeostasis, identifying Cu-dependent kinases and developing targeted therapies through drug repurposing and novel drug design. Our work has advanced our understanding of metals in nutrient signaling, energy homeostasis, and cancer metabolism. I am a Pew Biomedical Scholar, a V Foundation Scholar, and the recipient of the Perelman School of Medicine's Michael S. Brown New Investigator Research Award. I am also a dedicated advocate for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA), having spent the past decade addressing barriers to representation in STEM. In 2021, I was appointed the inaugural Assistant Dean for Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (IDE) in Research Training at Penn, leading efforts to foster an inclusive research environment. For these contributions, I was recognized with the 2022 Vanderbilt Basic Science Juneteenth Icon Award and the Penn Biomedical Graduate Studies Cell and Molecular Biology Graduate Group Community Service Award.